Bikes of 2009

Maybe my second post here ever, but this should be a big one. 2009 was a busy year considering I had 13 different bikes built up at one point or another. If I learned anything from having all these bikes, it's that I need to take better pictures when they're built. Some pictures are just frames and it's only because I didn't take a picture of them actually built.

Felt Tk2. 54cm, 2005. My favorite track bike and the one I had the longest, which by my estimate was 6 months. Tight geometry, fit very aggressively, bottom line fastest fixed bike I've ever had. Had my favorite fixed wheels too, Miche low flange 36h to Mavic Open Pros. Sold to my brother in Maryland.

Jamis Sonik. 55cm, 2007. Picked it up cheap off of D.C.'s craigslist, top tube was too long to realistically ride and I sold it after building once. Probably would have hit sound barriers on the track.

Bianchi D.I.S.S.. 18in, 2005. First experience with single speed mountain bikes. Bought it from Mork who set it up legit all over. Would have had this for longer if it didn't get stolen, cut Ulock.

Redline Monocog. 16in, 2006. My single speed mountain bike comeback. Just wasn't nearly as nice a ride as the DISS so I got rid of it quickly. Parted most of it to friends.

Cannondale Track. 55cm, 1993. Part of the best Craiglist find to date. Second favorite track bike to the Felt and the Tk2 only wins because I don't like threaded headsets and quill set-ups. Super twitchy frame, very unique ride. Was eventually sold on eBay for a very nice profit.

Yamaguchi Pursuit. 57cm 1991. Another great Craigslist find that I originally bought with the intention to flip. Told myself I could fit, but it was an effective 57cm that was hidden by pursuit geometry. Eventually sold on eBay for a nice profit as well and view counter skyrocketed thanks to WMD and his post.

Tommaso Augusta. 54cm 2007. Bought frame for super cheap on eBay and was built with parts way to nice. 26ed the front for barspins. Frame always felt a little short in the top tube, but was definitely a beefy frame for stunting on.

Surly Steamroller. 56cm 2006. Great frame for just about anything. If I could, I would get a 53cm Steamroller in a heartbeat. 56's were just outside my comfort range.

Cervelo P2K. 53cm 2001. Very fast time trial bike that I never fully built up the way I wanted to, but was fun for the couple days it was used. Built with full Dura Ace.

Rossin. 54cm 1983. My first real road bike and was stunning to say the least. Built up with Nuovo Record mainly and a Croce d'Aune drivetrain. Very nice Columbus ride, but the possibility of my next build forced a sale.

On One Inbred. 17in 2005. The most fun I've had on a bike was on this Inbred riding trails. Built up with some of the nicest parts I've had on a bike and because of the Sibex Ti fork, was able to ride full rigid with little discomfort. Sold most of it because of the last bike on this list, but kept the fork.

Soma Rush. 53cm 2000. 1 inch version Rush. Fit very well and was a great all rounder, but again my last ride of 2009 forced a sale.

Litespeed Macalu 17in 1994. Litespeed built Titanium frame for Excel Sports in Boulder. Very plush full rigid when paired with the Sibex fork. XTR drivetrain, XT brakes and shifters, Mavic Crossmax SSC wheelset. Don't know the exact weight, but I would guess around ~20lbs. Found this for very cheap and may look at getting a slightly bigger Ti frame for 2010.

My bikes, 2009

I started off the year with my Pinarello, which I rode on the street and the track, and my Mercian, which I only rode on the track at the time.

The Mercian is pretty fierce on the track, it handles great at speed. It's kind of scary off it due to foot-in-the-spokes toe overlap though.

The Pinarello rode amazingly and it was probably the lightest bike I've ever owned, even built up for the street it was only about 16 lbs. Unfortunately somewhere along the line it cracked on the chainstay so I sold it and bought myself an NJS bike.

I never really like this bike that much, the geometry was kind of akward. Then it got damaged in a crash so I sold it and started riding the Mercian on the street.

Couldn't ride double trispokes and super deep Deda drops and zero float clipless pedals on the street so I changed the build gradually to a more classic one, eventually (hopefully) it will be all C-Record.
When my fwiend Devo moved to Seattle, I took this Spooky DJ bike off his hands.

Apparently these frames are highly coveted because they were made by a dude named Frank the Welder who doesn't make bikes anymore or something. To be perfectly honest, I haven't done any dirt jumping on it, but its a great snow bike.
Then in August I bought a beautiful old road bike from an old Boulder local/friend.

Its a well made frame, with thinned lugs and chrome accents everywhere, dressed in full Campy Super Record & Cinelli parts. I think its a 1981. I'd show you more pictures but he sold it with these hideous green tires that I want to change out before I take better pictures of it.
More recently, I've been dipping my toes into FGFS/700cmx. This is my Stuntin' bike.

Its a bareknuckle that I got for cheap off craigslist with a Fu Manchu trick fork on it. The barspin toe overlap is kind of ridiculous but for now I can deal with it.
Finally, an unfinished project that has been dragging on for months.

This is an old Quattro Assi road bike that was all damaged and shit that I got for free. My buddy Bama welded some gussets over the damaged tubes so maybe it'll hold together, who knows. It's trying to be a city bike/beer hauler but it needs a bottom bracket and some cables and maybe a Brooks saddle and the CETMA rack I ordered 3 months ago for it. Took about 6 hours and some serious dremel work to fit those velo orange fenders on it. Hopefully I'll have it all finished up soon enough to use it.
Thats it, as far as I can remember. Sorry for the poor image quality, but phone pictures are all I have left of some of these bikes. Wonder if 2010 will have more bikes in store for me.

Colnago Mountain Bike?

Spotted this unusual/rare bike on eBay a few weeks back, a Colnago Master "Ibex."

You don't see the Italians messing with Mountain bikes, it was sort of an experimental market that they clearly lost to the Americans & Japanese. Kind of like Cinelli's experiment with BMX.

This bike is pretty amazing, you see elegant touches like this custom stem

Campagnolo 1060 dropouts

Colnago's own Arabesque style lugged seatpost collar.

Columbus-Gilco crimped tubing

Custom matching Selle-Colnago Saddle

Colnago Handlebars with Ernesto's Signature by the stem clamp

Only thing that seems off about this bike is the groupset, its Shimano. First thing I'd think of a Colnago mountain bike is that it'd be built with one of Campy's ultra-rare Mountain Bike gruppos, like Euclid, rather than Shimano XT.

Ernesto Colnago has been quoted as saying "I remember one time I was invited to a conference on production quality and quantity. There was a bunch of Japanese, and I told them they were only good at copying. One of them answered, 'Yes, that is true, but we copy to make better.' He introduced himself and it was Shimano himself! ... Today I use Shimano and Campagnolo on my bikes, 50 percent, according to the suitability. The average bike I have made in Taiwan, but I have that written on it, unlike a lot of others, and I use Shimano because it costs less."
Apparently no one thought it was worth the $2,200 that the seller was asking, it ended without a bid.

Clinchers vs Tubulars

via Drunkcyclist via G-Rad

PBR Poker

It's been a while, but here are a few photos I took at the PBR Poker Alleycat. Results can be found here.

Please credit photos to me, Allisyn Malley

Italian NJS Parts

I like Italian parts, especially old Campy ones. I also find it really interesting that at one point Campagnolo, the top manufacturer of high end racing equipment in the 80's, thought it would be lucrative to market their parts to Keirin racers in Japan, which was a pretty niche market compared to European road racing. I guess at some point they tried and their gruppo was rejected, partially because of a pro-japanese bias and partially because of incorrect design, so they changed some things and were accepted in 1987*.
Heres the 1991 Campagnolo Record Pista Gruppo with a smaller image of the Keirin group. Theres a couple noticeable differences. NJS hubs can only be high flange and 36 hole, so 36h Sheriff Stars were the natural choice. The other main difference is the seatpost, Campagnolo swapped the 1-bolt bladed post for an NJS style 2-bolt.

Another subtle difference would be in the threading. Campy NJS bottom brackets are English threaded, as the NJS only approved English threaded bottom brackets.

The headset is English threaded as well, but with the weird NJS 27.0mm crown race diameter. These NJS Campy headsets look more like the super record ones than the later chunky C-record ones, probably due to ball bearing diameter restrictions?
I also find it fascinating that Cinelli made stems and bars that were approved by NJS, given that the old Cinelli handlebars have been known to de-sleeve. The NJS Cinelli stem looks like a 2A track stem and the bars look just like regular 67-59 Pista bars. Maybe there was some design change to please the NJS.

But finally, the holy grail of Italian NJS rarity has surfaced. I was browsing velospace when I spotted this NJS stamped Cinelli Unicanitor saddle.


This has got the be one of the rarest track bike parts available, an ass raging unpadded Unicanitor saddle with Keirin-width rails. Don't know why you would ever want to ride this, but its collectors value is certainly through the roof.

Note: I took a few photos from this flickr set, which is worth a look if you want to see more photos of NJS stamped Campagnolo track parts.

Stripping Anodization

Peter stripped and polished some Campy cranks today. There was a post about it previously but here are a few photos of the process.

Mixing up a bowl of lye.

After soaking they are covered in black aluminum oxide.

But they polish up pretty nice.

Got some footy from last night

Thursday Night Ride 12/17/09 - Wheelie Turns from Adam Mork on Vimeo.

putting to practice some of the bicycling do's we learned about earlier this week. and yea thats a barspin at the start of the vid.

Cinelli Laser Pursuit

Looks super smooth, I really dig that stem angle. Mike Kone has this to say about the Laser
"During the mid 1980's, Cinelli introduced the Laser. This frame had smooth sculpted filleted joints, although we've heard from folks who have seen these "naked" that there was often body filler used. But these bikes are extremely elegant and embody the 1980's esthetic that is so popular now. There were three versions of the Laser; road, track, and time trial. Really nice examples with Super Record or C-record often sell for around $4,000."
images via 333 meter, who apparently has a gaggle of what looks to be 5 different versions of the frame in question.

EDIT: found a picture of a Cinelli Laser Tandem Track, hot damn.